Understanding
by Gre3nleaf
Summary: Despite living on Earth with the Winchesters for a very long time, there are still some things that Cas finds difficult to understand about humans. A series of one-shots.
1. Toast

**Understanding**

 **This will be a series of one-shots (I'm not sure how many yet… just whenever I get an idea I suppose) of our Cas learning different aspects of the human life :) I had this spontaneous idea a while back, and just decided to write this. There's no point to it, just having fun! Enjoy :) ... and please review!**

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 **#1 – Toast (this is based on a tumblr post I saw - I claim no credit over the idea, and recognize that others may also have written their own fanfictions based on it too)**

Castiel tried. He really did. He tried to be like Sam and Dean, and like any normal human being, but he was an angel, and sometimes that made it a _tiny_ bit more difficult. He didn't understand a lot of the things humans did; why did they feel a need to use the toilet numerous times during the day? Why was Dean so protective over a _car_? And why did Sam insist on washing his hair twice every night?

It was little things like these that confused the angel. He had always been curious of the humans when he had been up in heaven, and could still vividly remember pestering Gabriel to bring him down to Earth one day to meet them. That day had happened - though Gabe hadn't been there - a very long time ago. He was now living in the bunker with the Winchesters, but he was still having difficulty trying to understand everything the boys did. He understood the concept of drinking, and brushing your teeth, and small things like that, but larger things just… slipped through his mind.

Cas sighed as he looked up from the laptop on the table in front of him. He was trying to find a case he and the Winchesters could work on, but wasn't having any luck. The world seemed pretty quiet recently. Strange.

"Mornin' Cas."

The angel looked up, raising an eyebrow at Dean, who was trudging down the stairs. He was still in his pyjamas, barefoot, and looking extremely tired. "Good morning, Dean," he replied monotonously – no change there.

"Any luck finding a case?"

"No, none so far."

"Really?"

"Really," Castiel replied with a sigh, leaning back against his chair as he turned the laptop around to face Dean. The man squeezed his eyes shut and winced at the brightness, quickly pressing the button to lower it. He stared at the screen with narrowed eyes and scrolled down the page for a few minutes, raising both eyebrows once he saw that the angel was right.

"Yeah, nothing here," he said, shutting the laptop. He sighed and flopped down onto a chair, leaning back against it and closing his eyes.

"You look exhausted," Castiel told him. "Did you not sleep?"

"I did, actually," Dean said, "pretty well if I'm being honest."

"Then why are you still tired?"

Dean glanced up at the angel. He was looking straight at him, head tilted to the side like a lost puppy, eyes narrowed slightly in his 'I don't understand that reference' expression.

"It's, er…" Dean wavered, trying to find a way to explain it. "Its just my body waking up, bud."

"Your… body?" Castiel asked hesitantly. Oh father, please don't let this be another thing he would have to learn about humans.

"Yeah, it's like, er… I've been asleep for a while, and so my body's been still, and now it's waking up. Get it?"

Cas nodded. "It's like recharging a mobile phone, right?"

"I guess you could put it like that," the hunter laughed, dragging a hand tiredly down his face. "But what'd really recharge me is a coffee and toast." At this, he turned pleading eyes on his friend.

Cas frowned. Coffee? Fine, yes, he'd made the Winchesters cups of coffee more times than he could count. But toast? He'd never worked that weird machine before in his life.

And thus came Dean's long (and probably very confusing, judging by the angel's expressions) explanation on how to put the bread in the toaster, and to make sure they didn't get burnt, and to know when he had put exactly the right amount of butter on so it would melt ' _the proper way_ '.

Cas didn't understand.

But he said he did to shut Dean up.

The hunter smiled as his friend walked off to the kitchen. Once he was out of sight, and the tell-tale sound of hands reaching into the bread bag, and the fridge opening, he sighed and turned back to the laptop, opening it and logging on. It had stayed on the page Cas had found, and Dean slowly scrolled through the various cases, scanning the title and description of each one. His frown deepened when all he saw were clearly murder or suicide cases with nothing supernatural about them at all.

"You're up early," came a new voice, and the older Winchester looked up, smiling as he saw his brother walking down the stairs.

"Mornin' Sammy. You alright?"

"Fine, thanks," Sam replied. "Where's Cas?"

"Making me toast," Dean said with a smug grin.

"Toast?" Sam rose both eyebrows. " _Cas_ knows how to make toast?"

"I taught him," Dean said, before turning his head in the direction of the kitchen. "How's it going, pal?"

"The bread is in," came the reply, sounding like he was on some TV show. "I am waiting for it to- AHHHH!"

Both Sam and Dean turned wide eyes on each other at the angel's scream, and before they knew it, the two were out of their seats and running toward the kitchen, a gun in both Winchesters' hands which they had grabbed on their way.

"Cas-"

"-why did you scream-"

"-what the hell happened-"

"-who've I gotta kill?!"

The brothers skidded to a halt once they had entered the kitchen, guns poised and ready to fire, both panting heavily. They looked at Cas, expecting to see him in someone's (probably Lucifer's) grasp, an angel blade to his throat… but no.

He was on the ground.

Two slices of toast next to him.

Looking completely terrified.

"Er… Cas?" Sam asked confusedly. "What… um. What happened?"

The angel reached out and picked up both pieces of toast. He was breathing very heavily, hands shaking slightly. Slowly, he lifted his gaze and turned an accusing look on Dean.

"You didn't tell me they _flew_ out."


	2. Post-it Notes

**WARNING: SPOILERS for the most recent SPN episode (episode 17)**

 **A/N: This is a tag to s13e17, at the beginning of the episode where Dean puts the post-it notes on Sam's back. I was honestly waiting for Cas to turn up and wonder what the hell was going on, but he didn't, so I wrote this!**

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 **#2 - Post-it Notes**

If there was one thing Castiel didn't understand about the humans, it was the incessant jokes that they - namely Sam and Dean - played on each other.

To say he'd been confused when he'd teleported to the bunker directly behind Sam and seen the post-its stuck on his back would be an understatement. He frowned.

"Hey, bud," Dean said from across the room, sipping on his coffee.

"Hello, Dean," the angel replied. "I, uh-"

The elder Winchester looked confused for a moment as he watched his best friend tilt his head to the side and continue to stare, completely perplexed, at his brother's back, until realization hit him in the face. He made the mistake of snorting into his cup, coffee immediately splashing out and onto the table.

Both Cas and Sam looked at him. "What is it?" the hunter asked, and Dean shook his head, trying - and failing - to cover up his grin as he cleaned up the spill.

"Nothing, nothing," he assured his brother, turning in his seat to look up at the angel. "You alright, Cas?" he asked as a way to steer the three of them off the topic.

"I am fine." He was still staring, and Dean was starting to wonder if Sam would ever-

"Cas, what the _hell_ are you doing?"

-notice.

Cas looked at Sam. The man had turned a bit in his chair, and had seemingly realized that the angel had been there the whole time, apparently... _staring_ at his back?

"I am confused."

"Why're you confused?"

Cas's frown deepened and he lifted his head to look at Dean, who made some weird hand gestures and then returned to drinking his coffee when his brother spun around to look at him. He glanced back at the post-its before stepping forward and hesitantly kicking Sam under the table.

Sam yelped and turned to glare at the angel. " _Cas!_ What the hell, dude? That _hurt!_ "

"I'm... sorry. I thought-"

The younger Winchester was looking pointedly at Cas, ignoring Dean's unrestrained laughter and failed attempts at trying to cover it up. "You thought...?" he prompted.

The angel shook his head as if trying to remove the thoughts that were currently racing through his mind and took a deep breath. "I'm sorry, Sam. Forgive me."

Sam frowned. "Yeah, okay..."

Cas smiled grimly before turning to walk towards a chair at the table. He sat down and looked at the brothers. "Have you found anything on the Seal?" he asked, and Sam shook his head, still looking concernedly at the angel.

"Uh- not yet, no. I've been looking through books, countless websites on my laptop... I mean, we _could_ all try looking through the archives but I doubt there'll be anything there. This whole Seal of Solomon thing seems to be very secretive, and I don't-"

"No, I'm sorry," the angel interrupted him, moving restlessly in his seat, "I need to know why you'd say that about yourself, Sam."

"Say- say _what?_ Cas, what are you talking about?" _Okay_ , he was starting to get worried now. That angel had been acting strange since he teleported his feathery ass into the bunker! What was _wrong_ with him?

Cas looked positively distressed, staring at Sam with such confusion in his eyes that made him raise an eyebrow and scoot his chair closer to him. "What is it?" he asked, looking questioningly over at Dean, who shrugged and started laughing into his coffee. _What_ was so funny?

"You are not stupid," the angel said, grabbing hold of the younger Winchester's hand and enclosing it in his. "You are Dean are the smartest people I know. We _will_ find the Seal, we _will_ rescue Mary, and we _will_ find Jack. _Together_. Don't doubt yourself, Sam. And, what's more, don't write it down and stick it to your back! That's really going a little too far-"

"Stick it to my- Cas? What the hell?" Sam said. He frowned and yanked his hand out of the angel's grasp, grabbing the back of his shirt and immediately growling once his fingers made contact with a post-it note. He pulled it off and stared at it. _ASS FACE_.

" _Dean!_ " he said exasperatedly, trying to twist his shirt around in vain to see if there were anymore there.

Dean was in stitches, bent over the table and laughing hysterically. Cas couldn't remember a time he'd been so _happy_. He glanced confusedly over at Sam and took the post-it from his hands, looking at it and tilting his head slightly to the side. "You wrote these notes and stuck them to Sam's back?" he asked, twisting his head to look back at Dean.

"Yehes I dihid!" the hunter replied, face a bright shade of red as he attempted to compose himself. "Ahand you made it tehen times behetter, mahan!"

"Cas, how many more are there?" Sam asked, lifting his legs and turning in his seat. The angel rolled his eyes at the joke his mind had finally caught up with and reached out, pulling off the three remaining post-it notes from the man's back.

He handed them to Sam and watched with wide eyes as the hunter grew increasingly furious. His eyes scanned the words. _I'M STUPID. ASK ME_ , _KICK ME_ , and _DUM DUM_.

" _Wow_ , Dean," he said, glaring at his hysterical brother, "real mature."

"Oh, shut your mouth, _ass face_ ," the older hunter said with a wink, and Sam was up and out of that chair in a matter of seconds, chasing after Dean.

Cas stayed still for a moment, trying to figure out what had just happened. After a few seconds, he gave up, grabbed Sam's laptop and shook his fondly at the happy shouts that were echoing around the bunker.

 _Humans_ , he thought to himself with a chuckle. _My humans._


End file.
